When a Chain Comes to your Neighborhood, Local Stores Aren't the Only Losers

By Jeff Boone

The Medicine Man Pharmacy closed its doors recently, unable to compete with larger chain drugstores moving into the neighborhood.

"...as of July, 1, 2000, Barnes and Noble will no longer display The Seattle Press or any other free publications or periodicals in our vestibule. This area will now be reserved solely for Barnes and Noble merchandise and announcements."

Barnes and Noble has determined that vestibule space is better used by Barnes and Noble:

"Our selection of books will occupy most of the vestibule. The only other materials displayed will be our Barnes and Noble Calendar of Events, flyers announcing specific Barnes and Noble programs, and Barnes and Noble brochures, such as 'Discover New Writers.'"

But such is this bookseller's attachment to the civic and cultural life of our community, Barnes and Noble finds it necessary to remind the Seattle Press that:

"Barnes and Noble remains committed to local, non-profit literary, arts and education organizations. Flyers and brochures for local theatre, music, poetry, and other literary and educational events will be displayed at the time we do events for these organizations." [Emphasis mine.]

Barnes and Noble had in its vestibule an item of rare value among chain stores: local flavor. Booting those publications whose pages connect a reader to her city is simply another discreet nudge in the hind end of Seattle toward Anywhere, USA. Take note, readers: University Bookstore on the Ave distributes the Seattle Press and a host of other local publications, as does Bulldog News, the Allegro Cafe and many other Ave merchants. Local merchants, not chains, make publication and distribution of the Seattle Press possible.

Why Malls Suck

It's mere coincidence that the Barnes and Noble letter arrived the same week as the Aurora Avenue Merchants Association newsletter. The Association publishes this newsletter monthly; it's a noteworthy effort that provides a monthly snapshot of the health of Aurora Avenue businesses--the kind of activity that publicly affirms a community's engagement with one another.

The Association has been upset for some time with the non-progress of the Northgate Mall expansion. According to the Association, the Northgate neighbors who are aggressively negotiating with the city and mall developer to shape the expansion of Northgate Mall, are representative of no one in particular. And while the merchants of Aurora are appalled that neighbors have been able to push the city so far in their direction, one must point out that the city hasn't been pushed willingly. The tenacity of the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund has pushed the city, and it has been the Fund that has pointed out the city's regrettable interpretation and non-compliance with the law. Had the city not been so eager to facilitate development at Northgate, waiving its SEPA obligation in its haste, Northgate Mall owner the Simon Property Group might now have an approved development plan instead of another year or so in King County Superior Court.

But what's at stake? According to the Aurora Avenue Merchants Association:

"...it is quite apparent that Northgate Mall desperately needs some redevelopment. Sales are being lost to Bel-Square, Alderwood Mall and Southcenter as well as new commercial retail sale developments in various neighborhoods and small cities outside of Seattle. Taxes remitted from sales at the Mall are vital to the City and the State tax base and need to be encouraged."

Aurora Avenue merchants miss the point. Given the abundance of regional shopping malls including University Village, a stone's throw from Northgate, it is not likely that Northgate will capture (or re-capture) customers from Alderwood, Bel-Square, Southcenter or University Village. It is much more likely that Northgate's success rests in cannibalization of neighborhood commercial districts. Ballard, Fremont, Greenwood, Phinney Ridge, Wallingford and Lake City will pay for the mall's development with customers.

Despite the caterwauling of the Aurora Avenue Merchants Association, it's an attractive time for chains, megastores and mall developers to do business in Seattle. City Council voted 5-4 not to partner with Admiral District merchants to buy a level of parking in a soon-to-be-constructed parking garage, citing the dreaded precedent--that other local neighborhood business districts will want one, too. City Council forgets the precedent had already been set with the $73 million Pacific Place parking garage.

Given Council indifference to the success or failure of Seattle's local commercial districts, it should come as no surprise that the re-development of a homogenous, chain-identified business district with ample parking at Northgate may well be the future of Seattle.

(If you'd like to find out more about the connection between chains and the loss of locally-owned businesses, check out Stacy Mitchell's The Home Town Advantage: How to Defend Your Main Street Against Chain Stores...and Why it Matters published by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The Secret Garden Bookshop in Ballard can help you put your hands on a copy.)

And Wallis Bolz takes a leave

I am going to have a baby, and I am taking a leave from Seattle Press. Keep me apprised of what's going on in your neighborhood: wallitra@nwrain.com. Good luck to all of you whose courage has provided the material for many a story and Fishwrapper. Without you, there would be no reason for Seattle Press to exist.

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